Camping

After the city celebration, and I do mean seconds after it was all over...James and I headed up to Wyoming to meet family for a little camping trip. We sent Braxton with Nana, Papa, and Ashley that morning. I was totally exhausted. The trip was a hard one for our little family, but we enjoyed being with everyone. All of my dad's family was there...his brothers and sister and their spouses and a couple of cousins. It was a great time hanging out with everyone and we really enjoyed the camp fires at night with everyone. We wish we all had the time to be together more often.


James and my Dad were our lifesavers. They kept our firewood stocked and the fire blazing in the evenings so we didn't get cold. This is my favorite part of the day...just hanging out and telling stories around the fire. Please notice the white Ashley is wearing. We always get numerous comments on the white pants. She wears these every time we go camping...I can't believe they are still this white. This last time it was Braxton that kept spilling things on her.


S'more night!! Here is Braxton with a big marshmallow in his mouth. Here comes the sugar high.
Curious George has managed to make himself more of a permanent fixture in our little family. There is not a lot we don't do without him and 'elephant' (I'll introduce him to you soon). George really enjoyed this trip and followed Braxton everywhere.

City Celebration

Here are a couple of pictures from my crazy week. I was the chair over the city celebrations this year and it literally wore me out, but it was a lot of fun.
Me and Braxton are at the Sidewalk Chalk Contest. He was hot and only wanted mom to keep drawing triangles for him. The theme this year was "Round Up". I found this cute hat and he loves wearing it around the house.

We had a family swim night for the city. This year Dad was able to come play in the water with us. The last week Braxton keeps talking about going bye-bye in the car to the pool with daddy.


There was a dinner with entertainment. One of James' co-workers was our singer. He is an amazing country singer. We thought we'd make Braxton the star for a minute and take a couple of pictures. He's our photogenic poser.

New Bike Trailer

Today I had to go to the city offices to pick up some things. I'm the chair for our city celebration this week, and I'm finishing up some last minute things.

We bought the trailer a couple of weeks ago, but just got it out to take for a trial run last night when dad got home. I need something to get me a little exercise.

This morning I told Braxton we were 'going for a ride' he got so excited he grabbed Curious George and headed for the garage.

I love how excited our children get over the smallest things. It makes me grateful to be a mom. I'm so happy to have Braxton to help me put things into perspective...and take time to smell the flowers. Which is exactly what we did when we got to the end of the neighborhood...mom had to catch her breath.

Lunch

Trista and Samantha came to visit last week. My friend, Lauretta, took a walk to our house and we let the kids play for a bit. Before we knew it...the kids let us know it was lunch time. So, we had sandwiches with grapes and cheetos. We put sunscreen on all the kids, but mom got a little crispy.

Why is it, we as moms tend to neglect ourselves. We should be taking better care of ourselves so we can serve our families better.

Memorial Day Weekend

Braxton made a new friend on our 1st camping trip of the year. He learned how to blow bubbles...and the two of them had a blast. We stayed the first night at Lava Hot Springs. We camped with some of James' friends (and their families) from work. We all got up there late, but had fun eating dinner in the dark. The next day we headed out to camp with my family in Wyoming. I had gone into the trailer to change a diaper and our trailer was filling up with water. Needless to say it was an easy fix (cap never got put on after we de-winterized), but made a nice scene of kaos for a few minutes.


Braxton loves to help his daddy with EVERYTHING! Sometimes dad doesn't think it's so helpful. Dad just needs to be thankful that someone thinks he's SO cool. One day that coolness may wear off. :-)

New Haircut

Yeah!! Braxton finally got a haircut. We took him in for his new summer look and he did great. Mom has been cutting his hair since he was born, and she really doesn't know what she's doing. Now his friends won't make fun of him.

Ride Daddy...Please!

Wow! What a crazy week! We have been attempting to get some yard work done. I thought I would share with you what all this entails at our house. It's all about the 'ride' for a little two year old in a wheel barrow...and doing it in style. It's been pretty cold and rainy the last couple of days, but come rain or shine James has limited time to help us out at home...as he typically works 12-14 hour days. Doesn't matter the season, if you need yard work done, James is your man.

First Summer Get-a-way

We camped in Salt Lake City over Mother's Day weekend. Saturday, we took a trip to Hogle Zoo. Nikki, Jeremy, & Jordan met up with us for the day. Nana, Papa, & Ashee (as Braxton would say) came with us on our little adventure. Braxton loves trains, so we decided to go on the little train ride. First, Braxton was a little overwhelmed by everything that day and little out of sorts. Second, we (with the exception of Papa, who stayed back at the fort to guard our loot) all piled on this cute little train only to find ourselves back at the station within a matter of minutes. The train ride was over before we knew it. Needless to say, don't take the train. According to Braxton, the hi-light of the trip that day would be the elephants and giraffes.